New York – A new poll carried out by Near East Consulting (NEC) during February 12-15, 2007, has found that three-quarters of Palestinian Arabs do not think that Israel has a right to exist. The NEC poll also found that 70% of Palestinian Arabs support a one-state solution in which Jews would be a minority, not a two-state solution with a Palestinian Arab state living peacefully alongside Israel, as many claim Palestinian Arabs actually want. Additionally, an overwhelming majority (94%) of Palestinian Arabs support the recent Fatah-Hamas power sharing agreement signed in Mecca, which does not call for a renunciation of terrorism, recognizing Israel or implementing the prior signed Israel-Palestinian agreements ( Independent Media Review Analysis, February 16).
Consistent with such findings are new anti-Semitic items appearing in the Palestinian authority (PA) controlled media, including a new video clip, called ‘Palestinian unity’ broadcast on official PA Television which refers to Jews as “evil souls, a thousand evil ones… in my home.” The relevant excerpt from the song read: “I am Palestinian, and my home is my home. The evil souls [Visual: Jew walking in Jerusalem], A thousand evil ones are in my home!” [Visual: Jew walking in Jerusalem] But I am Palestinian and my home is my home, The evil souls [Visual: Jews praying at Western Wall], A thousand evil ones are in my home!” [Visual: Jews praying at Western Wall].
The remainder of the video clip features a teenage boy singing about Palestinian unity, over background images of dead bodies, funerals and military parades of the rival Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the Popular Front and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The lyrics include the following: “We are all Palestinians in blood and identity, Fatah, Hamas, and the Jihad, the Popular [Front] and the Democratic [Front]… We want to liberate the land through the national unity…” The words, “We are a sword which is not drawn, except towards the occupier,” are sung to the images of a gun firing, followed by that of a falling Israeli soldier. (PA TV, February 13, 2007, translation courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), February 14).
A new PMW report on PA textbooks for Grade 12 students reveals that these encourage them to see Israel, the U.S. and the West as enemies, and portray the PA’s territorial disputes with Israel as an existential religious conflict for Islam. According to the report, the new books create for students an image, both textual and visual, of a world without Israel. They reject Israel’s right to exist, while describing its founding as a “catastrophe that is unprecedented in history.” According to the report, the books encourage students to see themselves as victims of Israel’s existence, and actively prevent these young people from seeing Israel as a neighbor to live beside in peace. The conflict with Israel is presented as a religious one to defend Islamic land, and leaves no latitude or religious option for students to have positive — or even neutral — neutral attitudes towards Israel. The Grade 12 texts analyzed in the PMW report are the most recent books to be written by the Palestinian Curriculum Development Center. The director of the curriculum committee, Dr. Naim Abu Al-Humos, is a long-time member of the Fatah party and was appointed PA Minister of Higher Education in 2002, under Yasser Arafat, and continued after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ election ( Palestinian Media Watch, February 8).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This latest poll of Palestinian Arab opinion, the PA video clip that was broadcast this week and the new Palestinian textbooks simply bear out dozens of other surveys of Palestinian opinion over recent months and years that have pointed to majorities of Palestinian Arabs rejecting Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, as evidenced by support for terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and the legally baseless so-called ‘right of return’ which would see Israel overwhelmed by hostile Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants.
“This new poll showing that 75% of Palestinian Arabs do not accept Israel’s right to exist is simply the latest in a long series of polls dating back to 1994 showing a similar consensus by Palestinian Arabs against Israel’s existence. This simply indicates that Palestinian Arabs are quite prepared to sign agreements with and wrest major concessions from Israel without actually intending to accept and live in peace with Israel afterwards.”